Traditionally the age at which individuals could come together in a sexual union was something either for the family to decide or a matter of tribal custom. Probably in most cases this coincided with the onset of menarche in girls and the appearance of pubic hair in boys, that is, between twelve and fourteen, but the boundaries remained fluid. In Republican Rome, marriage and the age of consent were initially private matters between the families involved. Not until the time of Augustus in the first century C.E. did the state begin to intervene. Marriage then legally became a two-step process, a betrothal which involved an enforceable agreement between the heads of two households, and then marriage itself. Women who were not yet of age could be betrothed with the consent of their fathers, but the woman herself had to consent to marriage.
按照傳統，在什麼年齡男女雙方可以發生關係，要麼由家庭決定，要麼由部落習俗決定。在大多數情況下，這種時間可能與女孩月經初潮的來臨和男孩yinmao出現的時間重合，也就是說，在12到14歲之間，但是這一年齡範圍一直變動不居。在羅馬共和國，婚姻及同意發生關係的年齡最初是由雙方家庭私下決定。直到公元前一世紀奧古斯都時期，國家才開始干預。結果，按照法律，婚姻變成了一個分兩步走的程序：首先是訂婚，即由雙方的家長訂立一個可執行的婚約；然後是結婚本身。經其父親同意，未成年的女子可以訂婚，但女方本人必須同意結婚。
The Roman tradition influenced peoples and cultures with whom it had come in contact. In the Islamic tradition following Muhammad, betrothal could take place earlier than puberty, perhaps as early as seven, but the marriage was not supposed to be consummated until the girl menstruated and was of age. In medieval Europe, Gratian, the influential founder of Canon law in the twelfth century, accepted the traditional age of puberty for marriage (between 12 and 14) but he also said consent was "meaningful" if the children were older than seven. Some authorities said consent could take place earlier. Such a marriage would be permanent as long as neither party sought annulment before reaching puberty (12 for girls and 14 for boys) or if they had already consummated the marriage. Even if the husband had technically raped his wife before she reached puberty, the marriage was regarded as consummated. It was this policy which was carried over into English common law, and although consent was necessary, force and influence or persuasion seemed to have been permissible elements. Similarly Gratian's ideas about age became part of European civil law.
羅馬傳統影響了與之接觸的民族和文化。在信奉穆罕默德的伊斯蘭傳統中，訂婚可能早於青春期，也許有人早在7歲就訂婚，但在女孩行經併成年之前，不能圓房。在中世紀的歐洲，十二世紀有影響力的教會法例創始人格拉蒂安（Gratian）同意以傳統的青春期年齡（12至14歲）為結婚年齡，但同時他也表示，如果男女雙方的年齡超過7歲，徵得對方同意是“有意義的”。有些權威人士說，同意同房的年齡可能更小。只要雙方在進入青春期之前（女孩12歲，男孩14歲）都沒有尋求廢除婚姻，或者如果他們已經圓房，這種婚姻關係便不可改變。即便還未到青春期妻子就遭到丈夫（法律意義上的）強暴，亦視為已經圓房。正是這一政策被納入英國普通法，儘管同意是必要的，但武力、影響或勸說等因素似乎也得到許可。同樣，格拉蒂安關於年齡的觀點也被納入歐洲民法。
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